May 2012

May 31, 2012

So have you had enough of earnest young men sporting beards and ‘dressing down’? I know, I know: always, always. Thank goodness then that Kevin Rowland is hanging around once more looking sharp, strange and stunning. And what about Aggi Doom? They look like some kind of mental ancient Egyptian goddess worshiping cult leaders from space. Tremendous.

Of course The Brogues has been banging on about Aggi Doom for what seems like an eternity. Is he right in proclaiming their genius? Well, yes, he might just be. For their ‘Bring Me The Head’ debut 7” landed on my lap yesterday and has barely ben off the record player. I’ve been dancing around the geek lair manically to the title track in much the same way as I did when Bow Wow Wow popped up on TOTP wanting candy. Thankfully no-one was around to see that. Flipside ‘Cakewalk’ meanwhile inhabits the space Strawberry Switchblade flirted with in their finest downbeat moments and that’s some mighty recommendation. Bring on the new wave of darkwave.

May 30, 2012

Speaking of 4AD, have you picked up the Colourbox box yet? I have been thoroughly enjoying it. That eponymous album was on almost permanent loop on the Troon Velo stereo when it came out. I had it on cassette. Still remember buying it on a trip to Edinburgh - it must have been when I was up for an interview at the Art school there (was offered a place but opted for Glasgow instead, of course. Edinburgh always gave me a headache). I had all but forgotten until now that the cassette included the extra ‘mini’ LP of extras, including the wonderful ‘Manic II’ and ‘Fast Dump’ sequence with that lovely “play some more of that Colourbox stuff” sample. And the opener ‘Edit The Dragon’ which anticipated Depth Charge and which sampled The Comic Strip’s ‘Bullshitters’ which was similarly on a loop on the Velo VCR.

May 29, 2012

Sarah and I were experimenting with making chemigrams today. Officially it was by way of planning for the start of the photography GCSE course we are jointly teaching in the new academic year (which in our case begins in like four weeks time...). Unofficially it was by way of having a bit of creative fun.

We’re planning to use the chemigrams as a way into using Photoshop too. Scanning, then layering and exploring layer blending options. Which is how the above image came about. I admit that part of the appeal of chemigrans is that you cannot fail to produce something that looks as though it could grace the sleeve of an old 4AD/23 Envelope sleeve from the 1980s. Hence this:

This was the view across the fields just outside of Rewe, snapped on my morning commute to school on Friday of last week. The morning sun was just beginning to dissipate the early mist, and whilst my (lack of) photography skills and an old iPhone 3G camera were never going to enable me to capture the magic of the moment, it was worth a go, right?

May 23, 2012

Anyone who is still in any doubt of the greatness of The Bee Gees should take a few minutes to watch this clip from the movie ‘Melody’, featuring the gorgeous ‘First Of May’ from the ‘Odessa’ set. “Orchestrated nostalgia that hits all the obvious targets” says the hardened cynic. To which the answer is “Yes.” Glorious, isn’t it?

May 21, 2012

I don’t know what it has been like where you live but here in Devon it has felt like winter forever with just a few vaguely Spring-like days scattered amongst the past couple of months; their sparseness and fleeting quality only serving to highlight the otherwise uniform bitter winds and grey. Thankfully things seem to be changing at last. Today the air at last feels mellow, the breeze gentle and benign, whilst yesterday we managed a walk along the river, following the long-gone railway route and stumbling on this amusingly re-claimed sign from years gone by. Forty shillings indeed!

Have your latest WIAIWYA singles arrived yet? Mine came last week. They look and sound delicious. I think my favourite is the Tally Ho! cover of The Pretenders’ ‘Kid’. It’s a peach and a half. Plus added number 7 balloons. Record buying as Art event. Gotta love that.

I'm sure I have said it many times in the past, but I have Harvey Williams to thank for hipping me to the greatness of the Bee Gees. My ridiculous 'year zero' notion of Pop culture had blinded me to so much for so long. I could place the blame firmly at the doorway of Punk, but really it was my own fault for refusing to accept that there could be greatness in records that sold more than 50 copies. So Harvey’s cover of ‘Kilburn Towers’ opened the door for me, directing me to ‘Idea’ and on... So many great songs. So many great records.

In my mind’s eye I can see a younger, stupider version of me failing to grasp the stature of the Bee Gees. I see that version of me wondering just why Robin Gibb’s passing should generate such expansive tributes. Then I sit down and play ‘Idea’ again and watch that younger version of myself shamble off in embarrassment. And of course his loss is nothing as compared to that of Robin Gibb.